Pages

Friday, February 24, 2012

Review- Fool la la!- All Theatre Art Association

Presented by All Theatre Art Association, Fool la la! is a an avant guarde, super fun production about a clown going on a journey! Who doesn't love clowns or adventure?!It's dark in the way Cirque is a little dark, fun and beautifully designed. Presented at the Hk Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre in Shek Kip Mei it is TOTALLY worth the journey on the MTR. I had a really good time at this show!
(I know you expats don't like to leave the safety of the island, but do it for this show!)

If you don't know anything about the All Theatre Arts Asssociation here it isAll Theatre Art Association (ATAA) is an international multimedia production company founded in 2004 by Hoi Chiu and Maggie Blue O'Hara.
ATAA creats original shows and tours internationally at Arts Festivals, with appearances in Mainland, Macau, Taiwan, England, Singapore, Thailand, Korea and Canada.

The tag- line for Fool la la! is Sandpainting+Puppets+Dance+Music. And it's a perfect description for it. It's 90 minutes of pop art inspired colors, circus styled dance and acrobatics and great musical numbers. Tickets are 170HK (And include a program! *wink*) and there is a talk back on the 2/24 performance. I believe there are tickets still available for this show and you should get them! It's fantastic. I cannot truly express how beautifully produced it was. It may have danced the line of performance art carefully. (Which we all know is something I'm not the biggest fan of.) But I enjoyed it, and isn't that the point of theatre? To enjoy yourself?

The sand painting of Hoi Chiu was really expressive and carried the tone of the show from start to finish. It was beautifully executed and joyous. I would love to have one of their pieces in my home. Ahno Kwan's lighting design was some of the best I have ever seen in HK by a local artist, I hope they speak English because I would LOVE to hire them for my next show.

Maggie Blue O'hara is the actor, producer and writer of this production and I cannot tell her how wonderful it is. It's pure happiness on stage, and I wish that all shows left me with the exhilieration to perform the way this one did. It made me so proud to be an artist and to have Miss O'hara in the company of local artists.

It's performed in English with a bit of Cantonese thrown in for flavor and does contain a little adult content but nothing I wouldn't take a teenager to. If your kid is under 10 I would consider a bit of caution with some of it, but if they're older bring them because it's a show a teenager would really enjoy! Particularily if they're a creative type. The sand painting section is something I have never seen before! Mind blown...

Grade- A+
One of the best shows of the year! Highly recommended.
I'm considering paying for another ticket and going again, that's how good it is!
You can find out more information and watch some GREAT youtube videos by the company athttp://www.alltheatreco.com/

About Me

Purpose of this blog is to give a voice to the English speaking theatre community in HK, review productions, promote shows and talk about my adventures as a struggling artist.
Recently made editor of HK's first online magazine for theatre. More details to come!